day 2 Yuma

Weather report for our spot in the southwest.

The weather was going nuts yesterday, many places flooding around us , we had heavy rain, and it was pretty windy , my maximum wind speed on the mini weather station was 39.3 mph., the wind charger was going nuts. ( but not as bad as the time in Cody Wyoming)
..

We had enough water slowing past the trailer that I decided to fill my water tank with rain water.

I have on-board a pond pump and wanted to try it out, I hooked up hoses to the pump, and added a filter, used the inverter from the suburban, dug a small hole next to the trailer and pumped rain water into the fresh water holding tank, it took about 20 minutes but, it did fill the tank, worked great.

I now know the system will work in a pinch if needed in the future.

This morning I used some of that same water to take a shower, it was good....

The forecast for today from the weather guru's was to be cloudy and windy.

Well, the forcasters in this area are not too accurate, it was sunny and small wind 10 mph or less.

As for other RV'ers the rain showed some newly discovered water leaks, so a trip to the RV supply house was in order to purchase sealant to stop leaks, they said they were selling alot of it.

later.......

In Yuma Arizona

After studying the weather for the southwest I decided we ( the trailer, suburban, and gadgets) needed to get to Yuma Az quickly to avoid the high winds forecast.

Last night I slept until 2:30 am and started the trip again, by the time I arrived at LasVegas NM, it was very windy and I was very sleepy.
I stopped at a Wal-Mart and crawled back into the trailer and fell asleep, 3 hours later I awoke.
The windy weather had passed and I continued on my trip.
The remainder of the trip was mostly sunny and windy at times, but dry.
About 5:30pm this afternoon I arrived at the destination.
Sleepy Hollow RV park on an Indian Reservation.

Met Art and Jim and had a couple of beers and now need to recoup..


tomorrow's forcast:
Showers. Isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Very windy. Highs near 66. South wind 20 to 30 mph in the morning... becoming 25 to 40 mph in the afternoon. Gusts to 40 mph in the morning...becoming 55 mph in the afternoon. Chance of measurable rain 90 percent.

later

The snowbird adventure of 2010 has begun

I had planned to leave for Yuma yesterday. But, while getting ready I checked the tire pressure on the trailer tires, the right rear tire was low on air (gauge showed only 15 lbs).

I I started up the air compressor and filled the tire after filling the tire, I noticed air leaking from the valve stem. After bending the stem air was leaking from the rubber stem, it was badly weather checked, I had no choice but to remove the tire and have the stem replaced, I removed all of the tires and took them to Big O tires and had new stems installed.

No need to have flats or torn up tires on a 2000 mile trip.

The trip was delayed one day...

It's Tuesday and I left a 9am and have made it to Albuquerque NM.

I received a couple calls from Dee and a friend asking about the weather, they had heard reports of a winter storm warning. In many places it was sunny But, very windy, going through Santa Fe there was about 4 inches of snow on the grass.

The roads were dry and at times wet , still very windy.

So, I am at the San Filipe Hollywood Casino, they have a very nice lot set up for RV'ers, with electrical hookups, ( for a $15.00 fee) very flat gravel, and a fuel station with non-tax fuel :)

Edit: I forgot to mention that this casino has free wifi and it works very good, using it to post the blog


Later

Last hunting trip of the season

We left the trailer in our spot in Nebraska on the last trip, so on Wed. of last week the dogs and I traveled back out for another hunting excursion,

I was watching the weather reports and the temps were not predicted to be too bad.

We started hunting on Thursday, We finally bagged a wild turkey, but, only one pheasant, the pheasants are extremely difficult to get close enough to get a shot at now. The temps were in the 40's not bad.

We celebrated new years eve with local friends. The same folks in the cooking contest, in Atwood Ks.

We hunted on new years day for about a half day.

The following morning we hunted for about another half day. no success on getting close enough for a shot even with the dogs

Saturday Morning we woke up to 15 deg. temps , decided to return home with the trailer.

Sunday,
we invited Chris and Ash ( and Ash's extended family) to try out the wild turkey, it was decided to fry the turkey in peanut oil to see how it would taste.

Frying of the turkey went without a hitch (no fire)

The turkey turned out to be very moist and tasty..

The next 2 weeks will be used to prepare for the next trip to the southwest for some "snowbird" time ...

Merry Christmas Everyone

A few video's and pictures of the grand-kids....

Mid December Pheasant Hunt

After waiting for the weather to warm up, we left for our favorite hunting spots last Wednesday and set up the trailer

We started hunting on Thursday morning with the temps in the 30's

Hunted all day, training Cody is coming along, takes a little longer with wild birds but, much more enjoyable.

We hunted some spots that we have not been to for a few years, some of our favorite spots from last year had heavy hail last summer so we are expanding our hunting areas ...

Some farmers are still harvesting corn, when we did find birds in the afternoon, they were bunched up... It is fun to see over 20 to 30 birds get up even though they get up early.

Gary got the first bird at one of our favorite spots, we approached a thick weed patch, each of us on oppisite sides, the dogs checked the patch, did not pick up any scent, we stood there for what seemed like five minutes, all of the sudden a rooster flew up right in front of Gary, Got him..

Later in the afternoon we came upon a new spot between two circles, pheasants were flying wild by the road, farmers were combining in a field across the road, we decided to walk the patch and birds were flushing wild ahead of us about 100 yards.

We continued to the end, and there was one lone remaining rooster that got up about 40 yards ahead me, I pulled up the 'ol 20 gauge, lead him by about 2 ft and nailed him.

We only bagged 2 birds. But, I was a very enjoyable day.


On Friday,

Gary had to leave early.
We hunted a large farm and Gary bagged one rooster that came out of thick CRP grass.

At noon I cleaned the bird from the morning,

Took a nap

left the trailer for some more hunting, it was getting pretty windy.

I stopped at a circle corner, started to walk on the downwind side of the trees, the dogs were going a good job checking the trees and the tall grass between the trees and the picked corn field.

A rooster got up early about 60 yards ahead, Libby worked to the edge of the grass and 3 roosters got up. I pulled up on the second one and hit him, Libby was right on him..


Later in the afternoon a saw a rooster in the ditch whole cruising past a spot. I stopped, walked in tall grass and about 25 birds got up, I shot at one. and did not hit him very hard, he did drop down in the thick grass that is about 4 ft tall.
Libby took a wide area looking and was moving fast, Cody, got in front of me and started working slowly side to side, aproaching the edge of the grass Cody stopped and pounced, and then pointed, I started to dig in the grass and found the wounded bird..

I love finding downed bird with the dogs :)

Libby & Cody on the ride home
(Libby tries to sleep with her head up)

Pretty good picture going 75 mph

led lamp project

Caught a cold today and did a little project

Changed out our old lamp that used a 120 volt light to a new fixture that uses 12 volt and 1.5 watt led

more information at our roosterpheasant.com site

...

A little more about a broken suburban

During the trip back to Waunetta from the Chevy dealer in Imperial, the suburban began running very poorly, only able to get to 40 mph top speed.

I was able to get back to the camper and decided that is was no longer an option to try and get back to Colorado and repair the fuel pump..

Harchelroad Motors has a branch shop in Waunetta, after trying to find a fuel pump for a 8.1 liter suburban. (It is impossible) I contacted the dealer in Colorado ( I had previously purchased a new fuel pump last summer). and they were able to get another pump from the warehouse in Denver.

The Colorado dealer was able to overnight the new pump to the Waunetta dealer and the pump arrived the next day at 10:30am.


I dropped off the suburban to the dealer at 11 am.

Photo of dealer




suburban on the lift,
to remove the fuel tank
and replace fuel pump







The defective pump was boxed up, and will be returned to the Colorado dealer.

The pump has a 12 month factory warranty



After installing the new pump, we ( Libby, Cody & I) decided we needed to test drive the suburban to make sure it was ok.

We drove around to couple of our favorite hunting spots the check on birds. Everything was good.


It is harvest time, after a wet early fall the corn harvest is in full swing. Photo of a pile of corn by the elevator.

We decided to not drive back after dark (too many deer)

An invitation to the Goodtimes Bar was full of fun and laughs.



enjoying the evening Jeff,Billy. Ed, Becky










Our waitress (smiley)








All of the girls posed for a "smiley" picture









One of my favorite pictures of a Brittany hunting dog












Becky having a good time....

Lots going on this week

for the last week the suburban has been acting up a little.
It would loose power intermittently, and recover, I changed the fuel filter, (still the same),
checked the evaporation system on the fuel tank (It is Ok)
It had not acted up for 2 weeks, so, we decided to go hunting in Nebraska for a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

We have come back to the little house and set up, during the trip the suburban had a couple hickups, nothing bad.

Went turkey hunting on Monday morning and the turkeys saw me move ( I need to get under better cover) no bird..

Decided to take the suburban to the local Chevy dealer in Imperial Ne. we discussed the issues with the suburban and made an appointment for Tuesday at 9 am.

This dealership had burnt down last month and they have moved across the street to a building they had been building to house new cars.

Tuesday AM...

Received a call from Gary and he had to leave early and go back to Denver, his wife was taken to a hospital overnight..

Went to Harchelroad Motors in Imperial, Eddie the mechanic hooked up the tech 2 scanner to the suburban and tested all of the sensors and electrical systems, (the only out of normal reading was the oxygen sensor reading showing a lean condition). We then next installed a fuel pressure gauge and test drove the suburban, found the fuel pump, ( which was replaced last summer) is not supplying constant fuel pressure.

Paid the bill for diagnosis, (Only $25.00 wow )

On the way back to the trailer the pump is about to go out, top speed is 40 mph.

Now, I have made arrangements with the GM dealer in Colorado, to send a new pump to Nebraska overnight.


We now have power for the
camper in our favorite spot for hunting

The city cut down a cottonwood tree
to keep it from pulling down power lines

Pretty big tree

Trip two pheasant hunting

Camp spot for our Nebraska hunting adventures..












Hunted for two days, encountered some birds but,( knocked one down), the dogs could not find him in the very thick CRP grass, all others were, very spooky.
No corn has been harvested making finding birds difficult, we will return after harvest and hunt again..